


Deep

by unrealities



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Midnight Bants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 14:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11991381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrealities/pseuds/unrealities
Summary: “What do you think about love?”There is a slight pause where only the crackle of the receiver can be heard.“Magnus, it’s two in the morning.”Magnus is just a hopeless romantic and Alec wants his full, eight hours of sleep.





	Deep

**Author's Note:**

> All of my summaries seem to indicate that my fic will be a crack fic, but I assure you that it’s really more fluffy than anything else. I'm going to say that this is in an alternate universe, but it can definitely be thought as canonical. Honestly, this entire story is just Alternates to How Malec Said "I love you."
> 
> Update 12/10/17: I re-wrote bits and pieces of this fic, but it is still, overall, the same fic. I've just been having a lot of thoughts on this fic lately, mostly on how I didn't like how I wrote a few parts. The overall concept is the same, but I just changed a few sentences around to make sure they didn't sound too terrible. The one thing I despise is to look back on my fics, but sometimes, it is definitely needed.

An incessant ringing wakes Alec from his sleep. He opens one eye, noticing the room is still submerged in darkness. Once he finalizes that the noise is not his alarm to wake up, he wonders what it can be. Then, from the corner of his eye, he sees his phone light up.

The phone screen flashes _MAGNUS BANE is calling_. The time on the clock says one-fifty in the morning.

Alec debates on answering the phone. He already knows he will not be having a full rest because of how late he decided to go to bed, but talking to Magnus will keep him awake further. A small, aching part of him wants to talk to Magnus. He blames his lack of willpower when it comes to Magnus.

He is immediately brought back into reality, the phone still ringing loudly. He makes his decision and picks his phone up, whispering a hoarse, “Hello?”

His voice is raw and dry, wracked from drowsiness. He tries to moisten his mouth, hydrating himself enough to speak.

“Alexander!” Magnus’s voice chirps, happy, elated, and drunk off his mind. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Alec pauses, suspicious of the straightforward request. “About what?”

“You are deep and sometimes,” Magnus says, giggling quietly, “and most of the time it's superficial, but sometimes it's actually quite insightful.”

“What–” Alec protests, but is immediately cut off.

“I _love_ love,” Magnus continues, speaking over Alec as if he never made a sound, “and I want to know if you do, too. Is love what I think it is? What's love, Alexander?”

“How much have you had to drink?” Alec asks, holding back his fond smile.

“A perfectly normal amount,” Magnus answers, “and then some.”

Faint music can be heard in the background, slow but sanguine. Alec wonders what mood Magnus has fallen into and the cause of that mood.

“Drink water and go to sleep, Magnus,” Alec says, “we can talk in the morning.”

“But I want to know about love, Alexander, don't you?” Magnus whines, sighing dramatically enough that Alec can practically see his slumped shoulders and immense pout.

“Love is just love; it's whatever,” Alec grumbles, tired and aching to sleep, “now go to sleep.”

“But I don't want Superficial Alec!” Magnus complains. “I have a lot of questions about love!”

Alec is not prepared for the conversation he is inevitably going to be apart of. Before he says anything further, he stands up and saunters to the kitchen, quietly grabbing a drink of water.

“Like what?” he finally says, sipping the water to soothe his parched throat.

He is trudging back to his room, his legs heavy as he waits for Magnus’s response. On the other side of the call, he can hear even breathing occasionally hitch as if Magnus is on the verge of blurting something out. He rests on his bed, waiting patiently for what Magnus has to say.

“Well,” Magnus whispers, sniffling, “do we have love?”

Alec thinks about the question, squinting his eyes as he tries to spot any distinguishable object in the darkness of his room. “What do you mean? Of course we have love.”

The answer does not satisfy Magnus, Alec can tell by the way Magnus huffs in response. Magnus does not say anything, though. They both sit in silence as neither of them continue the conversation. Now, Alec is interested in what Magnus is preparing himself to say. Love is both a familiar and unfamiliar concept to the both of them. Before Alec can relay his thoughts aloud about the topic of love, Magnus loudly clears his throat.

“Are we in love? Can we _have_ love?” Magnus pauses in-between each question, trying to emphasize the meaning of each word.

Alec is now fully curious on why Magnus is adamant on love, at least in this moment. Then, he is surprised by the uncharacteristic quietness that Magnus has been harboring the entire conversation. Alec realizes the topic may be of incredible importance to Magnus, so he does not comment on it. Instead, he decides to respond to the questions without having Magnus waiting for any second longer.

“We’re in love,” Alec starts, quietly but surely, “of course we are. I feel for you something I can't even describe in words; it's just an overwhelming feeling of what I can just say is love.”

Magnus stays quiet, not saying a word as he listens carefully to Alec. Alec wants to ask if Magnus reciprocates the feeling, but decides against it.

“As for having love,” Alec continues, his words slow as he thinks about each word forming around his lips, “it sounds too possessive. _Having_ love is strange, but us _in_ love, is not.” Alec stood for a moment, pondering on what he said. “Does that make sense or am I barely past the point of superficial?”

Magnus is silent, then, “You're barely past the point of superficial.”

Aec doesn’t know if he should laugh or be upset. “I’m sorry that I’m not coherent enough to carry this conversation on smartly,” he says, sighing, “but that was a genuine answer from me. You think I can go any deeper?”

There is a rustling sound that Alec can only presume to be Magnus nodding his head. Alec does not know what else to say. He refrains from asking Magnus about love until Magnus is happy with the answer Alec gives.

“I want to know what you think of love,” Magnus says suddenly, not waiting for Alec to continue his train of thought.

“I just told you,” Alec says, frowning. He does not think he can say anything to further what he said about love.

Alec can feel Magnus’s frown emanating from the phone. “Can I ask you something else?”

“Are we still on about love?” Alec asks, trying not to sound exasperated by the idea of it.

“Yes.” Magnus pauses and Alec begins to speak when Magnus suddenly asks, “What do you think of love?”

There is a slight pause where only the crackle of the receiver can be heard.

A wave of tiredness rushes through Alec and he feels like deadweight. “Magnus, it’s two in the morning. Why are we doing this?”

Immediately, Alec regrets the bluntness of his tone, but he knows he must be straightforward in order to answer what Magnus is asking. He dwells on the question: What do you think of love? It is an interesting question for Magnus to ask; it is almost fully unexpected. He keeps himself from asking aloud if the question has been keeping Magnus’s mind preoccupied for a while or if the thought suddenly occurred during his currently intoxicated state.

Magnus hums lowly, pulling Alec from his thoughts. “Because I think we’re in love, but I just don’t know what our love is,” he answers, letting out a long breath.

Alec inhales deeply, pondering on Magnus’s words before speaking. “I think love is just that. Everyone has a different kind of love. We have a different love than Jace and Clary or Simon and Izzy, you know? It’s different, but in the end, it’s all love.”

Magnus lets out a content sigh. Alec knows he is smiling to himself, happy with the response to his question.

“So, what was this all really about, Magnus?” Alec asks, expecting an answer now that Magnus is relieved from the worry of Alec’s response.

The lilt in the conversation indicates that Magnus is thinking of how to word his answer correctly. There is a drumming sound, presumably from Magnus’s fingers tapping fervently against the phone. Alec wonders what thoughts are racing through Magnus’s mind at the moment.

“I love you,” Magnus mumbles, finally breaking the silence.

Then, surprise jolts Alec awake. He knows himself to be one of the most dense people when it comes to relationships, but he never believed he can be as oblivious as he feels in this moment.

Neither of them had said “I love you” to each other, yet here they are, sitting in their respective homes, chatting about the wonders of love at two in the morning.

“Oh,” Alec whispers, biting the bottom of his lip. “I love you, too. I thought you knew that.”

“It's always safe to double check,” Magnus says, chuckling lightly. “It just took me a few drinks and Catarina’s encouragement to get me to call you.”

“I'm glad you called me,” Alec insists, a small smile playing at his lips. “I would have never said anything, mostly because I wouldn't have known how.”

“You can always talk to me, Alexander,” Magnus urges softly.

“As can you,” Alec mumbles in response. They pause for the final time. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Alec is just a big ball of fluffy obliviousness, but I love him nonetheless.
> 
> I would love to know your thoughts on this. I was really debating on writing more, but I thought stopping this at just over a thousand words was good enough, so this turned out to be something just quick and sweet for me to write because I felt like I’ve been deprived of writing Malec for a while. Anyways, it would be great to get some feedback on this!
> 
> Say hey to me on [tumblr](http://hunterune.tumblr.com/).


End file.
